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| My Bible Study Girls |
Within my first week in Haiti at
the beginning of September, Caitlin has asked us if we would be interested in
doing discipleship groups with some of the orphan girls. I was a bit hesitant
because I don’t know any of the girls, but she reassured me I’d be partnered
with at least one English speakers.
I got Tonise and Dashena. The more
stories I heard of them, the more terrified I became to do bible study with
them.
Tonise has a sister who lives here
at the mission- she has basically been adopted by missionaries who live at the
mission. Her sister was brought to the mission when she was two years old
because she was really sick and eventually ended up living with the
missionaries. Tonise’s mom and dad passed away three years ago and she came to
the mission then. She has a really tough exterior and has the reputation of not
listen and respecting what anyone has to say to her. She struggles with social cues. I was paired
with her in hopes of being a new voice in her life.
Talk about slight pressure.
Dashena understands English
although she won’t speak it to you. Often times if you ask her a question in
English, she’ll just answer it in Creole.
Finally after three weeks of
stalling, avoiding meeting and wanting to cancel I decided to hold the bible
study. We sat down together on Friday afternoon. It went longer than expected
and better than I thought. Who knew I was so terrified, but trusted that God
would calm my nerves and give me peace with them.
I invited the girls over to our
common area. I asked Mika to join us as well. Mika is one of our tough kids who
his probably one of the meanest to all the other kids. She’ll push the kids
sometimes or just say really mean and nasty things. Mika’s story is also pretty
sad; she has a little sister with AIDS that her mom cares for but her mom
decided she didn’t want to keep Mika or her sister Lickna. The saddest part is
that they see their mom each and every day come to work at the mission. I can’t
imagine the rejection they feel that each time they see her, they know… she
didn’t want me.
I started off the study asking the
girls questions about the girls in Creole. I had written out a few questions in
English and translated them to Creole. The girls love the movie High School
Musical, love to drink Coke were a few of the answers I got back. I told them
that I wanted us to study in Phillippians starting next week. That today would
be short as it was our first intro week but next week we’d jump into chapter
one and discussing. They lingered, wanting more time so I asked if we wanted to
just read the first chapter together.
They agreed. I read Phillippians 1 in
English and then they read it from their Creole bible.
I was shocked at how much Mika
read or wanted to read and then Dashena finished up the chapter.
I told them to keep reading it
over and over and then to write down any questions that they had and we can
talk about them but that we would study through it together the following week.
I couldn’t help but buy them all
ice cold Cokes and give them granola bars as we finished up hanging out.
I am now looking forward to this
week’s study, rather that avoiding it.
I love the ways that God continues
to work through my heart when I just jump right into ministry. I am learning a
lot about myself especially in my hesitations, but even more so in the ways
that God always provides for me. When I learn to let go, I am always amazed at
the outcome. He always brings peace. God is so sovereign.
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| Left to Right: Mika, Dashena, Tonise |
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